Trangia vs pop can stoves: Ultralight weight alternative?

[The MAX]

So I'm sure you guys have seen a hundred videos and posts about these little stoves so I won't bore you too much. I've had my trangia, so I've never had the urge to make a homemade one. But recently I've been bitten slightly by the weight weenie bug and have been trying to shed ounces where I can. This got me looking at Ti gear of course. I have a pot on the way from Toaks Outdoor. I also found the evernew Ti alcohol burner that is 34g compared to the 121g of the Trangia (67g without lid or simmer ring). But didn't really want to shell out more $$$ for a new burner. So I started looking at pop can stoves. Ended up making two, both with flaws, but they seem to work okay. And at 10g and 11g respectively, you can't really complain. So I ended up lighting them up to compare.

I was surprised that the trangia flame burned so orange, and the other two where so blue. I lit them all the same time with 15 ml of fuel. The trangia primed first with the other two following pretty soon after. The homemade stoves also snuffed out first, but the trangia soon followed about 30 seconds later. So the overall burn time is not much different between the stoves. I boiled about 450ml of water in my GSI cup, with a homemade stove in a honey stove hex, and it only took about 5.5 minutes, which surprisingly was about 30 seconds faster than the trangia. But this could just be a timing error and they could be close. My second burner caught fire and started leaking fuel. There was a dent in one of the walls that was acting as kind of a jet, but it also started acting as kind of a fountain. So that one is now in the bin. We're currently downing two ciders so I'll try another iteration later

What are your guys thoughts? Who uses pop can stoves vs trangia or Ti Evernew?

Thanks for the input.

 

[BigMonster]

I started with trangia for my brew kit (ti 450ml mug) and ended up with vargo triad titanium stove and a small botle of fuel. But if I could do this again I would go the pop can stove route. Cheaper, lighter, and the biggest issue with all off the shelf burners is that the flame is too wide for cups and mugs. Even my 750ml cup still gets more flames on the sides than underneath.
With diy stoved you can shape them to your needs.

Plus I really like the "yeah, I made it from a empty can, how much that titanium stove costed you?!" factor...

 

[The MAX]

3rd crack at it.

So made it smaller, and tried to damage the sides less. Seems to work ok thus far. My concern is when I put more fuel in it if it will spit fuel all over the place. I can hear what I think is fuel bubbling in the vapor chamber, that worries me. The smaller stature will also hinder this issue. I'll try it out and report back. At 8 grams it's hard to argue! It's a wonder someone hasn't commercialized these yet as a low cost, light, green alternative.

 

[BigMonster]

From what I have seen on line, most people add some kind of wick inside or glass fiber cover on top to sabilise the fuel. And some people do sell diy stoves, very popular in US. "White box stove" for example or many variations of "penny stove". But yeah, you can't beat the custom fit, price and weight. Not to mention the satisfaction. I didn't had time to get on it myself yet...

They also make cracking pots and whole cooking systems with pot stands and wind shields out of beer cans https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=h...nnel=fflb&gws_rd=cr&ei=SWb0Usu6OKjB7Aac3oGABA

Shug on yt is a big fan of this setup.

 

[BigMonster]

Also what I can se you are trying to mix two different types of a burner:
Open type which can have wick inside to sabilise the fuel-basically a pot to hold the burning fuel.
Pressurised type. Where the stoove needs preheating to bloom. That's when the fuel vapourise from the heat and comes out through the holes as gas.

I srtongly recommend reading this to give you basic principles on alcohol stoves:
http://zenstoves.net/Stoves.htm

 

[quietone]

Good job that :thumbup:
But, have you seen the clever Japanese fellow Tektoba's stoves ? Look him up on the tube. I made a couple of his capillary hoop stoves, and they are the dogs I think, amongst the many that are out there. I used red bull cans, like his, but they're quite delicate to manipulate until they are assembled. I burn meths and nail varnish remover in them. They are perfect for the quick boil scenario, or an ultralight emergency stove.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fbHHQrh9m58&desktop_uri=/watch?v=fbHHQrh9m58

 

[tent peg]

I went from pop cans to something more stable but still fairly lightweight.

its a variant on the white box made from a pound shop sigg rip off. Works on getting a bloom from pressure and needs no pot stand.

I combine it with a Czech pan kit and foldacups. though these pile on the weight. If its windy I sit the burner inside the big pan as a wind shield.

To be honest though, I only use on day trips if all I need is boiling water. if I am planning to cook a meal its back to the trangia.

 

[jimbo75]

Good job that :thumbup:
But, have you seen the clever Japanese fellow Tektoba's stoves ? Look him up on the tube. I made a couple of his capillary hoop stoves, and they are the dogs I think, amongst the many that are out there. I used red bull cans, like his, but they're quite delicate to manipulate until they are assembled. I burn meths and nail varnish remover in them. They are perfect for the quick boil scenario, or an ultralight emergency stove.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fbHHQrh9m58&desktop_uri=/watch?v=fbHHQrh9m58

Ill second that! just made one myself... quite tricky, but really good little stove that doesn't cost anything!

 

[Purgatorio]

I also had my fair share of making stoves. And if you can make a stove you also can make a simmerring. But found all of them still tricky to handle.
And since a year i'm using esbit which i first thought of as not the real thing but i'm convinced it is as good as, and even better than alcohol and a lot safer too. With 20 grams i can use it to boil water or burn it as long as 50 minutes and to bake my bannock or muffins)
A good stove is a must however. I have a Caldera ti-tri with inferno which can use wood, alcohol, or esbit. Or have a look at the epicurian stove for baking.


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[Papa Tac]

I use pop can stoves mainly, when not using wood. I prefer the penny stove, or the "white box" style as above.
I like to use an aluminum hair spray can, too, when the wife is done.
So far, I've made over a quintal of alcohol stoves (and wood burners, too)
It can be a serious addiction...
I made this a little while ago, to show off some of my stoves and my video abilities. At least the song is good...
http://youtu.be/6uMFrTMT2wA

Keep at it, you'll get the stove you need!

 

[Purgatorio]

The song is good....so does think Sony/ATV publishing. I cannot play your vid....:-(( but would love to see it.


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[ged]

If you really want to shed the weight, throw away the stoves and collect wood when you stop. That way you don't just save the weight of the stove, you save the weight of the fuel as well...

 

[quietone]

Er.. Yes, but sometimes circumstances do not allow for a fire. I'm not worried about the weight issue either, my stove setup covers all possibilities.

 

[rg598]

I used to use alcohol stoves a lot, and I've made a ton of them. I have probably spent more money making alcohol stoves than I have spent on commercially available stoves.

The DIY stoves can work just as well and even better than commercially available alcohol stoves. That's because the stove is only part of the equation.

Alcohol contains a certain predetermined amount of energy per volume. When you vaporize it and burn it, the energy is released. That energy is going to be the same regardless of whether the stove is made of aluminum, titanium, or of how exactly it is constructed. The differences come in with respect to how fast you burn the fuel and release that energy, and how effectively the rest of your system (pot and windscreen) can capture that energy. You can get a stove to burn out an ounce of alcohol in 5 minutes. That is great, but unless the pot and widescreen can capture and utilize the heat that quickly, a lot of it will escape unused. I like stoves that have about 10 minute burn time on an ounce of alcohol. I find that gives the best heat transfer rate for most pots. There will however be variations based on what pot you use.

I think that is why the Caldera Cone system works so well and has become so popular.

Here is my current alcohol stove set up: http://woodtrekker.blogspot.com/2013/09/my-minimalist-cook-kit.html

 

[steve a]

I like the Brasslite stoves as well Ross, very cheap if you buy them in his sale and pretty efficient in use with a decent windscreen.

 

[tent peg]

forgot to add, don't buy the white box stove, mine took about ten mins to make with a drill and a saw and some wire wool

 

[Chilliphil]

forgot to add, don't buy the white box stove, mine took about ten mins to make with a drill and a saw and some wire wool

Have you got instructions on how to make it please?

 

[Johnnyboy1971]

For the Whitebox have a read here.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=117380

 

[tent peg]

Have you got instructions on how to make it please?

this guy has it down pretty good. once you have the technique sussed you can experiment with smaller bottles, I prefer cheap sigg type bottles cause the fatter base is more stable, you can also use aluminium beer bottles.


"How to make an alcohol stove for 1 dollar!"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDMJs0lvlNw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Chilliphil]

Thanks, I'll have a look at those when I'm not on my phone. I've made coke can burners before, but liked the look yours.